What do you think?
Rate this book
The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Flash Fiction from Contemporary China
"Modern Chinese fiction . . . looks to have made a great leap towards the bookshelves of [Western] readers."-- Guardian
Hugely popular in China, flash fiction is poised to be the most exciting new development in contemporary Chinese literature in a decade. Integrating both vernacular and contemporary styles while embracing new technologies such as text messaging (SMS) and blogging, contemporary Chinese flash fiction represents the voice of a civilization at the brink of a startling and unprecedented transformation. This collection features 120 short-short stories (from 100 to 300 words each), written by some of China's most dynamic and versatile authors. Dong Rui's The Pearl Jacket offers a glimpse of the real and surreal in human evolution, Chen Qiyou's Butterfly Forever brings an ancient Chinese literary motif into a startling modern context, while Liu Jianchao's Concerned Departments mocks the staggering complexity of life in the new urban China. Traditional, experimental, and avant-garde, The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories will reinvigorate the position of young Chinese writers as a major presence in contemporary literature. Their voices breathe new energy into modern Chinese literature, leaving the literary and societal stagnation of the Cultural Revolution behind as a distant memory.
Shouhua Qi is Professor of English at Western Connecticut State University. He is the author of Red Guard Fantasies and Other Stories and When the Purple Mountain Burns . He is one of the foremost experts (and translators) of the novels of Thomas Hardy.
Hugely popular in China, flash fiction is poised to be the most exciting new development in contemporary Chinese literature in a decade. Integrating both vernacular and contemporary styles while embracing new technologies such as text messaging (SMS) and blogging, contemporary Chinese flash fiction represents the voice of a civilization at the brink of a startling and unprecedented transformation. This collection features 120 short-short stories (from 100 to 300 words each), written by some of China's most dynamic and versatile authors. Dong Rui's The Pearl Jacket offers a glimpse of the real and surreal in human evolution, Chen Qiyou's Butterfly Forever brings an ancient Chinese literary motif into a startling modern context, while Liu Jianchao's Concerned Departments mocks the staggering complexity of life in the new urban China. Traditional, experimental, and avant-garde, The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories will reinvigorate the position of young Chinese writers as a major presence in contemporary literature. Their voices breathe new energy into modern Chinese literature, leaving the literary and societal stagnation of the Cultural Revolution behind as a distant memory.
Shouhua Qi is Professor of English at Western Connecticut State University. He is the author of Red Guard Fantasies and Other Stories and When the Purple Mountain Burns . He is one of the foremost experts (and translators) of the novels of Thomas Hardy.
370 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2008
6 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 2, 2018
I am writing a lot of flash fiction these days, and I enjoyed the stories in this book. They are not afraid to be ambiguous, to not have a well-recognized "plot." They seem to portray feelings, or even little fables, and they seem distinctly non-American, non-English in their tone. That said, there were just a lot of stories in this book, and it was almost like having three-times the dessert one wanted - an overabundance of sweets. It feels like you can't quite take in too many of these without feeling overstuffed.
May 18, 2019
Excellent collection of flash fiction from modern China. Short fiction you can read in the span of a few minutes. Lots of different approaches here: Some of the stories have a surprising or ironic twist at the end, some are just a beautiful slice of mundanity, and some are just plain strange. Loved 'em all. Also loved to see so many great Chinese writers represented here, including Deng Kaishang, Yu Dafu, Lao She, Guo Moruo, and Lu Xun. I borrowed this book from the Seattle Public Library, but it's so good I bought my own copy.
April 13, 2020
Full of sexist, classist, and ableist stories.
October 31, 2013
review coming
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews